656 MANUAL OF POISONOUS PLANTS 



the symptoms noted by other observers in various other cases. A boy had eaten of certain 

 tuberous roots, gathered in a recently plowed field, supposing them to be artichokes but 

 which were identified as the roots of Cicuta maculata. His first symptom was a pain in the 

 bowels, urging him to an ineffectual attempt at stool after which he vomited about a tea- 

 cupful of what appeared to be the recently masticated root, and immediately fell back into 

 convulsions which lasted off and on continuously till his death. The doctor found him in 

 a profuse sweat and convulsive agitations, consisting of tremors, violent contractions and 

 distortions, with alternate and imperfect relaxions of the whole muscular system, astonishing 

 mobility of the eyeballs and eyelids, with widely dilated pupils, stridor dentium, trismus, 

 frothing at the mouth and nose, mixed with blood and occasionally violent and genuine 

 epilepsy. 



The convulsive agitations were so powerful and incessant, that the doctor could not 

 examine the pulse with sufficient constancy to ascertain its character. 



At the post-mortem no inflammation was observed, the stomach was fully 

 distended with flatus, and contained "about three gills of muciform and greenish 

 fluid, such as had flowed from the mouth; the mass assumed a dark green color 

 on standing." 



Chesnut in his paper on Some Poisonous Plants of Northern Stock Ranges 

 says that Dr. Wilcox and himself observed 105 cases of water hemlock poison- 

 ing among sheep of which 50 were fatal, and 36 among cattle of which 30 were 

 fatal. The loss was $4,000, only a fraction of what occurs in Oregon. The C. 

 vagans and C. Douglasii are poisonous, the latter along the coast. 



Mention may be made in this connection of a series of most valuable papers 

 on "The Medicinal Plants of North America" by Dr. T. Holm in Merck's 

 Reports.* In one paper he discusses the anatomy as well as the poisons found 

 in this very poisonous plant. The effect of the poison is similar to that of 

 Cicuta virosa and is due to a resinous substance cicutoxin and to the volatile 

 alkaloid cicutin, which has been obtained from the fruits. 



Cicuta vagans Greene. Oregon Water-Hemlock 



A smooth perennial with glaucus stem and vertical rootstock divided into 

 horizontal chambers ; plant 2-3 feet high, with compound leaves ; flowers white. 



Distribution. From Idaho to British Columbia and west to northern Cali- 

 fornia. 



Poisonous properties. Same properties as the preceding. Professor Hed- 

 rick estimates that 100 head of cattle are killed by it every year in Oregon. A 

 piece about the size of a marble of the winter rootstock is believed to be fatal 

 to man. Professor Hedrick says : 



It is hard to estimate the number of cattle killed yearly in Oregon by eating Cicuta. One 

 hundred would be a low estimate in my judgment. Animals eat the underground portion of 

 Cicuta in getting the tops which form about the first green herbage in early spring; as they 

 browse the foliage, the roots, being only partly subterranean, and growing in a soft soil, are 

 pulled up and eaten. A piece the size of a walnut ,it is found by experiment, is sufficient to 

 kill a cow. It is probable that the poisonous constituent is found only in the underground 

 stem and the roots. 



While the victims of the plant are chiefly cattle, yet they are not exclusively so. The 

 poisonous parts are often mistaken for Parsnips, Artichokes, and Horse-radish, and thus human 

 victims are not infrequent. A number of cases of poisoning from Cicuta are annually re- 

 ported in the United States. A writer in a local paper a few months ago, reported the case 

 of two cattlemen in Southern Oregon, who, after eating "Wild Parsnip," presumably Cicuta, 

 died in a few hours. Falk reports, that in Europe in thirty-one cases of poisoning from 

 Cicuta, 45 per cent died. 



The observations made by Prof. French and reported by Prof. U. P. Hed- 



*Medicinal Plants of North America, 24; Cicuta maculata, Merck's Rep. XVIII: 35-38, 

 f.1-12. Feb. 1909. 



